POSTCOLONIAL PERSPECTIVE and LITERARY

CRITICISM IN The Tempest

* Postcolonialism/ Postcolonial Literature addresses the problems and consequences of

decolonisation of a country, especially concerning political and cultural independence of
formerly colonised/subjugated people.
* Looks at themes like RACISM and COLONIALISM

COLONIALISM- Exploitation by a stronger country of a weaker one, and the use of

the weaker country’s resources to strengthen and enrich the stronger country (as well as
its people)

* Postcolonialism examines the social and political power relationships that sustain
colonialism including the narratives surrounding the coloniser and the colonised.
* Postcolonial readings interrogate the process, values and results of colonialism.
* The Tempest shocks us with its descriptions of race, gender and ethnicity. Therefore, you
can apply a postcolonial perspective to the play. The drama revolves around how the
colonisers captured the land of the natives and how they control the native people
(Especially Caliban), their tradition and culture.
* Postcolonialism represents race, gender, ethnicity, culture and human identity in the
modern era, mostly after many colonised countries got their independence.
* Postcolonialism describes interactions between COLONISER AND COLONISED.
* Postcolonialism addresses questions of Prospero’s ownership of the island and
rethinking the role of Caliban.

CENTRAL IDEAS OF POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE

Postcolonial Literature has many common motifs and themes:
Cultural Dominance
Racism
Quest for Identity
Inequality
Hybridity
* European colonisers focused on racial discrimination for their superiority over the
colonised
* Language plays a critical role in the control and subjugation of colonised people.
* Colonisers often imposed their language on their subjects in order to control them.

POSTCOLONIAL READINGS OF The Tempest

* In 1611, when Shakespeare wrote The Tempest colonisation was a recent concept in
Britain.
* The plot is based on an island and the description of it seems more significant of
colonies.
* The play reveals how the colonisers (Prospero and Miranda) captured the people
(Caliban and Ariel), their traditions and culture.
* When Prospero and Miranda reach the island, it was already inhabited by Caliban (His
Property).
* At first, Prospero befriends Caliban. After he uses Caliban to gain knowledge about the
island, he uses his knowledge and power to capture the island and enslave Caliban.
* This act of Prospero is very similar to the situation of colonial history.
* Prospero is the most powerful protagonist of the play. His actions, reasoning and the
way he deals with the inhabitants reflects the attitude of the coloniser.
* His magical powers not only enslave Caliban but also demands the servitude of Ariel to
put his magical designs into action.
* Prospero is an intruder who enslaves Caliban and takes the power of the inhabitants
establishes a New Order and claims the island for himself.
* Caliban represents the colonised Native who is betrayed by the colonial ruler
(Represents the Colonised ‘other’)
* Postcolonial criticism does not look at Caliban as the deformed monster/creature but as
a native of the island where Prospero has imposed a form of colonial domination.
* The play interprets the exact way in which colonisers treated colonised /native people.
* Prospero gives freedom to Ariel for his service which Ariel performs without complaint.
* Caliban, however, is rebellious and is denied freedom
* When Caliban refuses to be subservient like Ariel, he receives the most
horrendous/heinous punishments, therefore Caliban is forced to obey for fear of
punishment. (Act 1, Scene 2 Lines 17-21)
* Attitude of coloniser is to CIVILISE natives. Thus, Prospero displays how his presence on
the island is valuable to Caliban.
* The coloniser considers the natives as UNCIVILISED savages and slaves.
* Prospero expects Caliban to be grateful to him for educating him and making him learn
the superior language.
* The coloniser thinks that they have a moral obligation as the superior race which is
divinely destined to civilise the brutish and barbarous parts of the world and its
inhabitants.
* Prospero and Miranda both express the same attitude towards Caliban and Miranda
justifies the enslavement as an assertion that they tried to civilise him but to no avail.
* Caliban feels oppressed and exploited in his own land. He tries to reclaim the island for
himself but is unsuccessful. He cannot escape Prospero’s knowledge and magical power.
* Caliban scolds himself for trusting Prospero and letting him know all the secrets of the
land.
* Caliban represents all the natives who do not want to be a prisoner of colonialism.
* All colonised individuals/people believe that peace can be restores only after the
coloniser is destroyed or after obtaining freedom from bondage.
* The play ends with Prospero deciding to return to his country with Miranda. He leaves
the island, frees Ariel and enables Caliban to be the inhabitant of the island.
* At last, Caliban gets the freedom and the right to claim his island.
* Caliban and Ariel represent two different categories of the colonised.
* ARIEL- represents the colonised who are submissive and cooperative.
* CALIBAN- represents the colonised who are assertive and resistant natives.
* This the play attempts to highlight and condemn the existing ideologies of colonisation.